There is an excellent Geert Wilders interview with Jeff Jacoby on Boston.com today here.
Unlike the dhimmi media tools who do Islam's bidding on a daily basis, Jacoby gives Wilders the opportunity to explain and/or refute the popular memes the media and the Islamic propagandists throw at Wilders in the traitorous attempt to marginalize and smear him.

There is one issue in this interview I would like very much to address because there has been little refutation or coverage of the viability and intellectual integrity of "moderate" Muslim.

Q: What do you say to Muslims like Zuhdi
Jasser? He is an American, a former Navy officer, a doctor. After 9/11, he was
so horrified by what was done in the name of Islam that he founded the American
Islamic Forum for Democracy: pro-American, pro-democracy, anti-violence,
anti-Islamist. How do you answer Muslims like him, who say: "I love my religion.
I also love freedom, democracy, Western values. I believe in separation of
mosque and state. But how can I be an ally with someone who says my religion
itself is evil?"

A: Well, I would tell him I wish there were
more people like you. It didn't happen. I would not agree with [Dr. Jasser]
about Islam, but I wish there were more like him.

Everyone loves the idea of Jasser and his "moderate Islam," without doing even so much as the most preliminary analysis or review of his position and many of the things he has said.

Jasser, in the interview linked above, had the temerity to claim that Muslim Antisemitism is a "Wahhabi" problem, which Bostom is “promoting.” I guess that makes it a combined Bostom-Wahhabi problem. Never mind that Muslim Antisemitism was fully functional without the Wahhabis for over 1000 years before the movement arose in the 18th century, or some 1300 years before Bostom was born in 1956.

Listen to ~ minutes 20-25. Also, Jasser makes a point of repeatedly referring to Judea/Samaria as "occupied" — (and he does not mean the historically accurate characterization Arab-occupied Judea-Samaria.). I strongly recommend you listen to the whole interview if you are buying into the moderate narrative.

It is also important to mention that Jasser was recently kicked out of his own "progressive" mosque because
of his take on Islam, so who exactly is he representing? He's living in
his own private Islam. Islam considers Jasser a hyporcrite, an
apostate. There is no interpretation of Islam. Reform or reinterpret the Qu'ran and you are a "hypocrite" -- punishable by death.

Muhammad is to strike hard against the unbelievers (fight them with weapons
and armaments—ibn Kathir. Fight them with swords—Jalalyn), hypocrites (punish
them according to Sharia laws—ibn Kathir) and to be firm (harsh) against them;
the abode for the unbelievers and the hypocrites is hell...66:9

Another force behind the fallacious "moderate" Muslim meme is noted scholar Daniel Pipes -- perhaps the most damaging propagandist of this impossible argument, because of his credibility.

Q: What do you say to scholars of Islam like Daniel Pipes,
who argues that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution?
Why should one accept what Geert Wilders says about Islam, rather than someone
like Pipes?

A: I respect Daniel Pipes, but I fully disagree. There is no
moderate Islam. It's like the [prime minister] of Turkey, Mr. Erdogan, said
himself recently: There is only one taste of Islam, and that is the taste of the
Koran.

Q: But he's an Islamist. You would expect him to say that.
What about anti-Islamist Muslims, Muslims who reject the radicals?

A: Listen, the Koran is seen by Muslims, unlike all the
other religions, as the word of God that can never be criticized. If you
criticize the Koran, you are a renegade, an apostate. There are people who are
moderate and call themselves Muslim. But moderate Islam is totally nonexistent.
It will never have an Enlightenment as happened with Christianity.

Q: Why not?

A: Because unlike the interpretations of other holy books,
Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and can never be changed.

Q: Hold on - the New Testament today is the same New
Testament as a thousand years ago. What's different is the way that book is read
and understood. A thousand years ago, one could have said Christianity was a
violent, militant religion; today one wouldn't.

A: Yes, there was a change in Christianity. It was possible
because Christians don't believe that the Bible is literally the word of God -
not like the Koran. If you really believe [the Koran] is the word of God, it
will never have room to change

Pipes's mantra is tired. We have all been listening to it for the past ten years without so much as a scintilla of supportive data. But now, thanks to repeated polling, reality paints a vastly different picture -- here. for example is data from 2006/2007, reported by Dr. Bostom: The Muslim Mainstream and the New Caliphate.

The openly expressed desire for the restoration of a Caliphate from two-thirds of an important Muslim sample of Arab and non-Arab Islamic nations, representative of Muslims worldwide, should serve as a chilling wake-up call to those still in denial about the existential threat posed by the living, uniquely Islamic institution of jihad.

And with the most recent follow-up, reported at the end of February from World Opinion polls here, we can quantify how factually-challenged his formulation is -- unless one accepts the absurd notion that desiring "strict application" of Sharia, and global Caliphate, are "moderate". Overwhelming majorities i.e., better than 2/3 of the best conducted sampling of the world's most populous Muslim countries, want these hideous outcomes.

As Bostom has previously written,

A World Public Opinion.org/ University of Maryland poll released February 25, 2009 indicated the following about our erstwhile Muslim ally nations of Egypt and Pakistan—81% of the Muslims of “moderate” Egypt, the largest Arab Muslim nation, desire a “strict” application of Shari’a, Islamic Law; 76% of the Pakistan’s Muslims—one of the most important, and sizable non-Arab Muslim populations—want this outcome. Moreover, 70% of Egyptian Muslims and 69% of Pakistani Muslims desire the re-creation of a “..single Islamic state or Caliphate.”

When I first came to study Islam post 9/11, I watched and waited and wanted very much to believe in the Moderate meme. But I am not a fool. You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

Wilders cites this Reagan quote frequently, "If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly."

BINGO.

Comments

Wilders, Islam and the Immoderate Moderates

There is an excellent Geert Wilders interview with Jeff Jacoby on Boston.com today here.
Unlike the dhimmi media tools who do Islam's bidding on a daily basis, Jacoby gives Wilders the opportunity to explain and/or refute the popular memes the media and the Islamic propagandists throw at Wilders in the traitorous attempt to marginalize and smear him.

There is one issue in this interview I would like very much to address because there has been little refutation or coverage of the viability and intellectual integrity of "moderate" Muslim.

Q: What do you say to Muslims like Zuhdi
Jasser? He is an American, a former Navy officer, a doctor. After 9/11, he was
so horrified by what was done in the name of Islam that he founded the American
Islamic Forum for Democracy: pro-American, pro-democracy, anti-violence,
anti-Islamist. How do you answer Muslims like him, who say: "I love my religion.
I also love freedom, democracy, Western values. I believe in separation of
mosque and state. But how can I be an ally with someone who says my religion
itself is evil?"

A: Well, I would tell him I wish there were
more people like you. It didn't happen. I would not agree with [Dr. Jasser]
about Islam, but I wish there were more like him.

Everyone loves the idea of Jasser and his "moderate Islam," without doing even so much as the most preliminary analysis or review of his position and many of the things he has said.

Jasser, in the interview linked above, had the temerity to claim that Muslim Antisemitism is a "Wahhabi" problem, which Bostom is “promoting.” I guess that makes it a combined Bostom-Wahhabi problem. Never mind that Muslim Antisemitism was fully functional without the Wahhabis for over 1000 years before the movement arose in the 18th century, or some 1300 years before Bostom was born in 1956.

Listen to ~ minutes 20-25. Also, Jasser makes a point of repeatedly referring to Judea/Samaria as "occupied" — (and he does not mean the historically accurate characterization Arab-occupied Judea-Samaria.). I strongly recommend you listen to the whole interview if you are buying into the moderate narrative.

It is also important to mention that Jasser was recently kicked out of his own "progressive" mosque because
of his take on Islam, so who exactly is he representing? He's living in
his own private Islam. Islam considers Jasser a hyporcrite, an
apostate. There is no interpretation of Islam. Reform or reinterpret the Qu'ran and you are a "hypocrite" -- punishable by death.

Muhammad is to strike hard against the unbelievers (fight them with weapons
and armaments—ibn Kathir. Fight them with swords—Jalalyn), hypocrites (punish
them according to Sharia laws—ibn Kathir) and to be firm (harsh) against them;
the abode for the unbelievers and the hypocrites is hell...66:9

Another force behind the fallacious "moderate" Muslim meme is noted scholar Daniel Pipes -- perhaps the most damaging propagandist of this impossible argument, because of his credibility.

Q: What do you say to scholars of Islam like Daniel Pipes,
who argues that radical Islam is the problem and moderate Islam is the solution?
Why should one accept what Geert Wilders says about Islam, rather than someone
like Pipes?

A: I respect Daniel Pipes, but I fully disagree. There is no
moderate Islam. It's like the [prime minister] of Turkey, Mr. Erdogan, said
himself recently: There is only one taste of Islam, and that is the taste of the
Koran.

Q: But he's an Islamist. You would expect him to say that.
What about anti-Islamist Muslims, Muslims who reject the radicals?

A: Listen, the Koran is seen by Muslims, unlike all the
other religions, as the word of God that can never be criticized. If you
criticize the Koran, you are a renegade, an apostate. There are people who are
moderate and call themselves Muslim. But moderate Islam is totally nonexistent.
It will never have an Enlightenment as happened with Christianity.

Q: Why not?

A: Because unlike the interpretations of other holy books,
Muslims believe that the Koran is the word of God and can never be changed.

Q: Hold on - the New Testament today is the same New
Testament as a thousand years ago. What's different is the way that book is read
and understood. A thousand years ago, one could have said Christianity was a
violent, militant religion; today one wouldn't.

A: Yes, there was a change in Christianity. It was possible
because Christians don't believe that the Bible is literally the word of God -
not like the Koran. If you really believe [the Koran] is the word of God, it
will never have room to change

Pipes's mantra is tired. We have all been listening to it for the past ten years without so much as a scintilla of supportive data. But now, thanks to repeated polling, reality paints a vastly different picture -- here. for example is data from 2006/2007, reported by Dr. Bostom: The Muslim Mainstream and the New Caliphate.

The openly expressed desire for the restoration of a Caliphate from two-thirds of an important Muslim sample of Arab and non-Arab Islamic nations, representative of Muslims worldwide, should serve as a chilling wake-up call to those still in denial about the existential threat posed by the living, uniquely Islamic institution of jihad.

And with the most recent follow-up, reported at the end of February from World Opinion polls here, we can quantify how factually-challenged his formulation is -- unless one accepts the absurd notion that desiring "strict application" of Sharia, and global Caliphate, are "moderate". Overwhelming majorities i.e., better than 2/3 of the best conducted sampling of the world's most populous Muslim countries, want these hideous outcomes.

As Bostom has previously written,

A World Public Opinion.org/ University of Maryland poll released February 25, 2009 indicated the following about our erstwhile Muslim ally nations of Egypt and Pakistan—81% of the Muslims of “moderate” Egypt, the largest Arab Muslim nation, desire a “strict” application of Shari’a, Islamic Law; 76% of the Pakistan’s Muslims—one of the most important, and sizable non-Arab Muslim populations—want this outcome. Moreover, 70% of Egyptian Muslims and 69% of Pakistani Muslims desire the re-creation of a “..single Islamic state or Caliphate.”

When I first came to study Islam post 9/11, I watched and waited and wanted very much to believe in the Moderate meme. But I am not a fool. You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.

Wilders cites this Reagan quote frequently, "If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly."